Comfort Food

We started making this granola when we brought Hudson home from the hospital.

It left the house smelling amazing and was the perfect touch to my Noosa w/ fruit breakfast routine.

Needless to say, we haven’t bought granola since.

BTW: To new mommies – this was great for breastfeeding 🙂

Brown Sugar + Winter Spice Granola

From James Freeman, Caitlin Freeman and Tara Duggan’s The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee

1 1/2 cups / 11.5 oz / 325 g packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup / 80 ml / 80 g water

4 cups / 14 oz / 400 g rolled oats

1 1/2 cups / 6 oz / 170 g walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups / 6 oz / 170 g pecans, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon Maldon sea salt, or other large flaky sea salt

1/3 cup / 80 ml / 71 g olive oil

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

In a small heavy saucepan, combine the brown sugar and water. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, walnuts, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix well.

Add the olive oil and vanilla to the brown sugar syrup and stir until thoroughly combined, then pour over the oat mixture. With your hands, mix the ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Transfer the mixture to a rimmed 13 x 18-inch baking sheet and pat into an even layer; it will be thick but shouldn’t be higher than the rim of the pan.

Bake for 75 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and use a large spatula to flip the granola, keeping it in as large of chunks as possible. Return the granola to the oven and bake for about 60 minutes more, until completely dry and no longer soft when you take a bite. Let cool before serving.

Stored in a tightly sealed container at room temperature, the granola will keep for 2 weeks.

Yield: approximately 15 servings